Quote:
Originally Posted by packs
Without using WAR what tells you Hernandez was better than Mattingly? Mattingly's peak was 200 hits a year (three years in a row), 40 plus doubles a year, 30 plus homers, 100 rbi's and hitting 320 and above while doing it. That's where the Pujols comparison comes in. Mattingly put up an OPS over 900 four years in a row. Hernandez had an OPS over 900 twice in his entire career. There is no reason to believe Mattingly wouldn't have kept doing what he was doing if not for his injury. He was a beast.
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Hernandez was a better hitter. OPS+ tells us that. You use choose to use raw stats that ignore Mattingly's home park was very hitter friendly. The stats you use are worthless unless you put them in context of the field they were performed on. Baseball is the only sport where the field of play isn't constant, so you cannot use raw stats to compare players. Stats say Hernandez was a better hitter. Defensive stats say Hernandez was a better fielder. Better hitter plus better fielder means he was the better player. No need to use WAR when the other stats point to the same result.